The present invention relates to control systems and pertains particularly to combined throttle and transmission control means.
Lift trucks and other similar article-handling vehicles normally require that an operator steer the vehicle and control its translation over a supporting surface at the same time that he is manipulating the article-handling implements thereof. Since the steering of the vehicle as well as the manipulation of the article-handling equipment of the vehicle is normally controlled by the operator's hands, it is necessary that he be able to control the direction and speed of the vehicle solely by means of his feet. It is therefore desirable that as many functions as possible by incorporated within a single control pedal and that the control pedal arrangement afford easy and precise control of the vehicle.
Numerous prior art approaches to such control systems have been proposed for such vehicles in the past. However, such systems have failed to provide an optimum combination to provide the desired functional convenience.